Let's just have a quick look back on 2012 and see where the tourism offering of Oman has moved in a year. I am not talking about hard facts not announcements and press releases. What do we have more compared to 2011 that attracts more tourists? Off the top of my head:
The above suggest to me that perhaps we need to remind ourselves of the basics: visitors are coming for attractions. The better they are packaged the more will come. Hotel are just services, parts of the package but are rarely the attractions themselves. I am really looking forward to new tourist products in the coming years that act as attractions rather then just services. Here are a few with some potential: The City Walk Muscat could finally be proper master planned activation of beach areas, The Oman Convention & Exhibition Center, The Alila Resort in Jebel Akhdar, The Club Med in Salalah, and the de-industrialized and leisure focused waterfront regeneration in SQ Port in Mutrah etc. Insha'Allah.
- Almouj Golf officially opens including the par 3 floodlit golf course
- Ghala Valley Golf Club opens full 18-hole grass course
- Best Western opens Premier in Muscat
- Duqm sees torrent of new hotels: Veronica Floating Hotel and City Hotel Duqum with Crown Plaza just missing the line to open this year
- Salalah Beach project progresses with the opening of the Marina and the Juweira Butique Hotel
- Other openings which are arguably tourist attractions but might ad to the mix: Opera Galleria, MGM, Go Cart track, Amouage's new factory and visitor center etc.
- Muscat Arab Tourism Capital for 2012 - and all the nice buzz around it
- An agreement to develop a Kempinski Hotel The Wave was signed by a consortia of investors
- A new Intercontinental was announced for Muscat Hills (since the one in Shaati will be replaced by a W hotel)
- Alila hotels signed up to manage the future Omran Hotel in Jebel Akhdar
- Oman Sail has waved the country's name all over the sailing word this year, wining the Extreme Sailing Series, tourism promotion awards and bids to organize international sailing events
- And of course Sheraton managed to stay closed for another year.
The above suggest to me that perhaps we need to remind ourselves of the basics: visitors are coming for attractions. The better they are packaged the more will come. Hotel are just services, parts of the package but are rarely the attractions themselves. I am really looking forward to new tourist products in the coming years that act as attractions rather then just services. Here are a few with some potential: The City Walk Muscat could finally be proper master planned activation of beach areas, The Oman Convention & Exhibition Center, The Alila Resort in Jebel Akhdar, The Club Med in Salalah, and the de-industrialized and leisure focused waterfront regeneration in SQ Port in Mutrah etc. Insha'Allah.
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